At the point when space traveler Forthcoming Rubio sent off to the Global Space Station (ISS) in September 2022, he was planned to get once again to Earth in a half year’s time. Rubio’s ride to his home planet, nonetheless, experienced a glitch that left him abandoned in low Earth circle. Because of the disaster, Rubio is set to spend over a year in space, breaking the record for the longest span mission by a U.S. space explorer.

On Monday, the NASA space traveler will beat the past record of 355 days set by Imprint Vande Hei in 2022. After spending 371 days in Earth orbit, Rubio will return to Earth no later than September 27. He will become the first American astronaut and one of only six people to spend a year in space.

In spite of the fact that it wasn’t purposeful, Rubio is making the most out of his drawn out time in space. ” Rubio stated in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, “I think this [duration] is really significant in the sense that it teaches us that the human body can endure.” I think it’s really important that we learn just how the human body learns to adapt, and how we can optimize that process so that we can improve our performance as we explore further and further away from Earth as we prepare to push back to the moon and, hopefully, Mars.

Rubio sent off to the ISS on September 21, 2022. A seat-swap agreement between NASA and Roscosmos stipulated that a U.S. astronaut would ride aboard the Russian capsule in exchange for a Russian cosmonaut boarding a SpaceX Crew Dragon for the very first time. He was the first person to ride aboard a Soyuz spacecraft since April 2021.

While attached to the International Space Station (ISS), the Soyuz spacecraft that carried Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin began leaking coolant into low Earth orbit in December 2022. Although the spacecraft was deemed unfit to transport the three individuals back to Earth, no official explanation was provided for the leak.

The three-person crew is scheduled to return aboard Soyuz MS-23 later this month. Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio’s stay on the station was extended for another six months. Vande Hei, the previous record holder, was unaware of the time he would spend on the ISS before launching into Earth orbit, just like Rubio was. All things considered, Vande Hei’s visit on the space station was likewise stretched out to oblige a two-man Russian film group shooting a film on the ISS.